Please read the below guidelines thoroughly before submitting your writing. A link to our Submittable page is at the end of the guidelines.
Eldredge Books has opened up a second round of submissions for Fashionably Late, a collection of personal narratives by gay, bisexual, and transgender men who came out well into adulthood. For this round, we are specifically seeking stories about life on the other side of the closet door (as opposed to stories leading up to the point of coming out). We want to read about the challenges and joys men faced after shedding their affected straight or cisgendered identities. Additionally, we would like to read more stories from men who grew up in non-Christian families (particularly Muslim or Jewish) and from racial minorities.
Topics of interest for this round include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Integrating with the LGBTQ community after years of being an outsider
- Entering the dating scene
- First same-sex sexual experiences
- The realities of same-sex sex versus the fantasies you may have built up about it in the closet
- Redefining relationships with your spouse and/or children
- Coping with divorce
- Letting go of closeted behavior
- Embracing gender expressions that didn’t “fit” with your closeted persona
Submissions are open to all gay, bi, and trans men who identify as late bloomers (this typically refers to men who came out after their mid-twenties). All stories must be true and the original work of the author himself. Your submission may be previously published elsewhere; however, a strong preference is given to original work. If your work is published elsewhere, you must be able to demonstrate that you own the rights to reprint the work.
Please limit your submission to 7,500 words.
The book is tentatively scheduled to released March of 2016.
The collection will be edited by Vinnie Kinsella, a Portland-based editor, book designer, and educator who himself came out of the closet at age thirty-four. Vinnie is the founder of the PDX Late Bloomers Club, a social/support organization for men who came out later in life.
To submit, please visit our Submittable page (link below). Along with your submission, please include a one-paragraph summary of your submission’s topic and a brief author bio highlighting any previous publishing experience you have.
If your story is chosen for publication, you will receive a small stipend for your work, two free copies of the print anthology, two free downloads of the ebook, and the right to purchase further print copies at the wholesale price.
To submit your story, please use our Submittable page. We will not accept emailed submissions.
>via: http://fashionablylatebook.com/submit/